Is Candide Greedy?

13. Even in his naïveté, Candide knows that nothing in his world can be obtained without money, and so he takes jewels with him when he leaves El Dorado. In what instances does Voltaire show that greed is an intricate part of human nature? Is Candide greedy for taking the jewels with him? Do you agree with Voltaire that greed is one of the main causes of evil in the world? Greed is the excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves, this especially applies to any sort of material wealth. Candide even in his complete optimism and ignorance realizes that money makes the world go round to at least some extent. This greed is shown to be apart of almost all human nature through out the play, but it is also shown to be the cause of a great number of evils done to Candide has he travels the globe in pursuit of his one goal. Greed is shown at every place that Candide visits, from the Castle where he grew up to the village where he ends his journey. Some of the most well noticed acts of greed are played out by the con artists in France, has they manage to trick Candide out of enormous sums of money while pretending to be his friends. Also has Candide is staying in El Dorado he learns about how if the Europeans were to discover them that they would all be slaughtered over what they saw has rocks and clay. People value the material wealth above almost everything else including human life. This greed is shown in most characters throughout the book demonstrating how it is so strongly tied to human nature. Candide is one of the few people who are truly not greedy in the book. While he does leave El Dorado with millions he does not take the diamonds he asks for them. This fact alone shows how Candide does not set money above everything else. Has he leaves through the long trek through the desert, he looses an unfathomable amount of his fortune and it is nothing to him has he knows that they are not necessary to achieve his true goal. Later his